… “who will you be?”

This Halloween you will likely dress up. You will show the community a side of yourself they rarely, if ever, see. You will express your inner dimensionality with such verocity. You will adorn yourself, enticing the community to see something so very true about you and yet usually hidden from view. Ok, how many times can I say the same thing in new ways? Funny you should ask because that’s exactly what you will also be doing – recycling mostly old ideas and making them new. You will devise each daring detail of your costume. You will change concepts completely or re-imagine old ones over and over again.

And why wouldn’t you? This is serious soul candy! We finally get to play with death, sex, story, symbols and showmanship – oh my! It’s a socially accepted opportunity to play with our soul’s plasticity, to exorcise demons and to align with a new identity, idol, icon or iphone – oops – modernized version of a Freudian slip? Oh, finally the day is upon us to make our fantasies real. A Christianized pagan ritual so sublime, satiating and surreal as this should seriously come at least twice a year.

Our Southwestern students get to play in this way during Consciousness class as they channel mentors, teachers and long-lost figures from the past. By remembering and re-enacting these roles we bring forth the spirits of each and give new life to the living archetypes at last. All Hallow’s Eve or Dia de los Muertes is our chance to do just that. We are bringing back the dead. We are re-igniting the lost lights of our collective psyche. We are resurrecting vital pieces of ourselves and taking the chance to walk around embodying their energy, re-awakening those dormant aspects so they can live again. So, what was it that you were going to be again?

What role will you play? Who will you become? What about you do you want us to see? What about you will you let shine through? I have certainly gone back and forth myself about what to become… Icelandic mermaid… pink ballerina… heavenly angel… rainbow sorceress… Oz’s Dorothy and Toto (imagine Little Leif in a basket):

But I settled, finally, on the Sumerian Mesopotamian diety, Inanna. She is the goddess of sexuality. UH OH – sex?! Before you get all twisted up don’t forget that here at Southwestern College we are beginning to discuss much more openly all the variations and theoretical “positions” of human sexuality. Check out our new Human Sexuality program if interested; but in the meantime know that it is way past time to feel fully liberated in this arena. The sensual and the intimate are no longer something to fear. In fact, as therapists, we rely on its energy to support our relationships. I use it all the time to drop into an imaginal space and resource creativity. Of course there is a line, there is always a very clear line, but a certain quality of intimacy has to be a part of therapy. Besides, what Halloween costume is any good without at least a little sex appeal? And I am, once again archetypally speaking, so Leo! So have fun, be safe and yes, I am still talking about sex ;)

Heather is an archetypal art therapist, clinical supervisor and course instructor in Santa Fe, NM. She serves as Secretary for the New Mexico Art Therapy Association, teaches Archetypal Psychology at Southwestern College and acts as Coordinator at Southwestern Counseling Center where she has been since 2007. Feel free to view her website for more.